Bank Holiday Mayhem

Mabel and Creggan have had a wild time this past Bank Holiday weekend. First they had a morning out in Selby to get them used to traffic noise and lots of people and they even shared a seat outside the Hope Yard Cafe while Judith & Leigh enjoyed a snack:-) 

Then they watched the world go by outside Selby Abbey.....

....before going home to get ready for visitors. This time not new puppy owners but Leigh's brother and nephew from Gloucestershire:

Here is Euan making friends with Crybbe.

And then the next day the fun really began when the paddling pool came out. This was Mabel's idea of heaven - she loves water!

But Creggan was not convinced. He prefers to keep his paws dry:

The pool had to be put away the next day as the sun disappeared and it started raining again but once it stopped the pups were looking for more fun and Mabel found herself a great new bed:

and even though Creggan tried to turf her out...

She held on to her special place and he had to give in :-)

He did find another pot to sit in but wasn't too pleased about it!

Puppy Training Class

Leigh managed to get this photo of me enjoying a bit of sun in the garden before the rain came back. I am beginning to feel more like myself again now the pups are growing up. But the weather has got really bad again here so no more garden games for a while :-( But my 2 pups who are still here did get to go out to their training class last night. My peeps found a really good training class near York that takes little pups after their first vaccinations. It is called Well Connected Canine which sounds about right for my babies :-) Creggan will only be going one more time as he is going down south to live with his new peeps on 1 June but Mabel is staying with us a bit longer so she will be able to go until July.

The classes are held in an old school sports hall and they have lots of interesting training equipment or is it just play things? There are buckets of toys and cones and tunnels:

Last night Mabel and Creggan learned to look for treats in boxes and tunnels, they were introduced to very large stuffie dogs which is the first stage in getting them used to seeing big dogs without being anxious or jumping at them, and they met different people who were helping at the class including a vet nurse in her uniform who even walked near them on crutches to get them used to that as well. 

But best of all - for Mabel and Creggan (and my peeps) - Gracie was there too!

Gracie's new Mum brings her to the same training class so they all had a chance to say hello again:

Leigh was sorry that the photos were not better but everyone was so excited they couldn't keep still for a moment :-)

..and when they got home they couldn't even tell us all about it at first they were so tired they just fell asleep on the mat!

Wordless Wednesday - Mabel & the Water Bowl

A Busy Weekend

Here I am trying to get a bit of peace again :-) It has been a very busy weekend!

Yes - this is Rodders back for another visit to see his new brother-to-be Creggan. At least that was the idea but Rodders has a bit of an eye for the girls and here he is trying to whisper sweet nothings in my ear! Well I was having none of it and soon Trilby was along to take him off for games in the garden:

Well Trilby is always happy to play. She had great fun in the garden while Rodders' Mum spent some time with little Creggan. He is growing every day - but still very cute :-)

Then Mabel's new family-to be came to visit and brought her a lovely new crate and bed to try out before she goes to live with them. Mabel is a sweetheart. She was trying on Aoife's harness the other day:

But I told her she didn't need to dress up for them - she is beautiful just as she is :-)

Do you really think so Mum?

Anyway, as it was such a lovely afternoon yesterday my peeps decided to do some gardening after all the rain we've had has made the garden all overgrown. And while they were busy, Creggan and Mabel decided to help too.

Shall we do a bit of digging Mabel?

This is fun!

Pulling out that grass has worn us out now ...maybe time for a snooze:

They do like their furry bed :-)

and so do I!

Maverick & Gracie Leave Home

Yesterday Gracie and Maverick, two of my pups, went to live with their new families. Here are Mabel and Creggan wondering where their brother and sister have gone. Leigh was a bit tearful to say goodbye to them and she had to explain to me that they had gone to loving homes where they would have a really good life and I shouldn't worry....I was looking round the house for them at first as I thought they might have got lost somewhere. Maybe I will get to see them again one day when they are older :-)

Here is Maverick keen to go waiting for his new peeps to arrive with his Puppy welcome bag to take with him. He's wondering if there might be treats too:

and there was...a whole jar full of puppy food to take with him.

And here is Gracie looking thoughtful as she waits on the patio for her new peeps to arrive. She had a welcome bag too with her own treat jar of food as well as all these:

a bowl, a book, a stag bar antler, a toy, a fleece blanket, some puppy poop bags and a doggee holder and a little book of photos of the first 8 weeks since she was born. The Puppy Wallet has all her paperwork - health tests, microchip details and a folder of information all about miniature schnauzers and how to look after us and keep us happy :-)

I know my pups will have a happy life and for a little while longer I have Creggan and Mabel here to look after - although not to feed!

This is Creggan thinking he can steal a bit more milk even though he's a big boy now - and has sharp teeth:

Leigh rescued me from that painful experience!

And here he is on his bed enjoying a snooze after all the excitement of visitors:

St Patrick's Day Puppies (Part 2)

You may remember that my puppies were born on St Patrick's Day well my peeps have now got their Kennel Club registered names confirmed (all with an Irish theme) AND they all now have their special names from their new owners to be :-)

This is Darksprite Irish Maverick (Maverick) who is destined for a show career :-)

This is Darksprite Roisin Dubh (Gracie) who is a sweet little 'dark rose'

This is Darksprite Finn Mac Cool (Creggan) who is going to live with Trilby's love Rodders and his peeps.

And this is my first born girl Darksprite Queen Maeve (Mabel) who is a very beautiful girl :-)

Maverick and Gracie will be going to their new homes this Sunday so it will be a sad day for us to say goodbye but a happy day for them to discover wonderful new families and have exciting times with them. Hopefully I will get to see them sometimes too as they grow up not too far away.

The Puppies' Eye Test

On Friday my pups had their first big car journey and their first visit to a vet! Here they are in the crate at the back of the car wondering what adventure they are going on now :-) As mini schnauzers can suffer from inherited eye problems they have to be tested by a specialist eye vet once they are 6 weeks old just to be sure there is no sign of congenital hereditary cataracts. There are other eye problems that us mini schnauzers can get but my pups are too young to be tested for those yet.

This was the certificate I got after my last eye test which you might remember I blogged about at the time. It has a special chart and lists the eye tests the vet has done. It showed I had no signs of hereditary cataracts, congenital hereditary cataracts or progressive retinal atrophy - those are all long horrible words but the eye conditions are even worse and they can make dogs go blind when they are really young. Me and Luke have our certificates to show we have no problems and hopefully our pups should all be fine as well. 

Here is the veterinary nurse putting the eye drops in one my little boys' eyes.

And here are my two little girls watching and wondering what's going to happen next!

"No problem", he said, "don't worry". And they were all as good as gold and didn't make a squeak even when the other great big dogs in the vet surgery were barking very loudly. After the eye drops went in they had to wait half an hour and then went to see the eye specialist vet who turned off the light and shone a torch in their eyes to check them out. And they were still so good :-) and all clear. They got a different kind of certificate from mine which was for all four of them:

And then they had the long journey home. Our local vets can't do eye testing so Judith & Leigh had to take my pups to another vet about 35 miles away - the same vet I went to for mine.

Here they are hoping they are going to get a treat for being good - Mabel is licking her lips at the thought :-)